The Bremer Tageszeitung AG (BTAG) (Bremer newspaper AG) is a publishing house that publishes various regional newspapers in the city of Bremen and nearby regions in Lower Saxony.
| Company type | Aktiengesellschaft |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Founder | Hans Hackmack |
| Headquarters | Bremen, Germany |
Area served | Bremen, parts of Lower Saxony |
Key people | Hackmack family and Christian Güssow |
| Products | newspaper |
| Revenue |  publicly unknown |
Number of employees | 330 (2024) |
| Website | www |
The daily newspaper Weser-Kurier (WK) is the main product. The WK forms the title pages of the local newspapers Bremer Nachrichten and Verdener Nachrichten as well as the Sunday newspaper Kurier am Sonntag, which appear in Bremen and the lower Saxon environs. In addition, there are some regional or local side dishes. The sold circulation amounts to 126,485 copies. That is a drop of 37.3 per cent since 1998.
The publishing house is located in Bremen and had till 2019 its own printing house in the Woltmershausen district.[1] BTAG was founded in 1945 under commercial law as a public limited company and is owned half by the Bremen family Hackmack and Hamburg photographer Christian Güssow. Since at least 1999 the two owners of the publishing house the Hackmack familiy and Christan Güssow have been in conflict with each other, blocking important decisions.[2]
History
edit
Today's Bremer Nachrichten (Bremen News) is identical to Weser-Kurier, which was first published on January 7, 1743 under the name Bremer Wöchentlichen Nachrichten (Bremen Weekly News). Bremer Nachrichten is with four other papers one of the oldest newspapers still published in Germany. Also it is the seventh oldest daily newspaper in the world.
Post war
editIn 1945 the social-democratic journalist and publisher Hans Hackmack received from the military government of the American Zone a license to publish a newspaper. The trained journalist Hackmack, who was born in Hamburg, was active in the left-wing social democratic movement. Hackmack had paid for his open resistance against the Nazis with prison and a concentration camp for “preparing for high treason”.[3] Felix von Eckardt was one of the newspaper's co-editors at the beginning. This person was only given the appropriate license in 1947 because his role in Nazi Germany was controversial. Although independent, he is assigned to the bourgeois camp, which corresponded to the requirements of the Americans. Von Eckardt was also a trained journalist and during the Weimar Republic he was a press attaché in Brussels.
The newspaper received the name Weser-Kurier. It was one of the first licensed newspapers in occupied Germany after the Second World War and appeared on four sides for the first time on 19 September 1945.
Till the Second World War Bremer Nachrichten, one of the oldest newspapers in Europe was the newpaper, which was dominant market in Bremen. During the time of the rise of National Socialism in the Weimar Republic, the paper was increasingly steered to the right and so military government of the American Zone prohibited the continuing of this newspaper in 1945.
At this time Weser-Kurier cost 20 pfennigs and was available on Wednesdays and Saturdays with a circulation of 150,000 copies. The Bremer Nachrichten was allowed to appear only in 1949; they could not make up for the advantage that the Weser-Kurier had. The editorial content was controlled by the US military government in 1945/46, but soon the editorial staff worked independently. In 1946 the Weser-Kurier GmbH was founded. The Weser-Kurier appeared as a nonpartisan newspaper, initially with a social-liberal expression.
Bremer Nachrichten was re-established after WWII in 1949 and recognized side by side with Weser-Kurier till the 1970s. In 1949, the newspaper was printed externally by Schünemann-Verlag of Bremer Nachrichten. From September 1949 the newspaper was published every working day.
1950-1990
editIn 1952, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (CDU) made Felix von Eckardt his press spokesman. He then sold his shares in Weser-Kurier to Hermann Rudolf Meyer. Meyer had been part of Weser-Kurier since the end of 1945 and managed the publisher's commercial affairs. After Meyer became a co-owner through the Eckardts' shares, Hackmack gave him additional shares so that they were equal shareholders. They ran the newspaper together until 1960. Afterwards, Hackmack left for health reasons and Hermann Rudolf Meyer took over the management of the newspaper alone.
In 1974 the Schünemann publishing house wanted to sell the Bremer Nachrichten. Weser-Kurier buys the main competitor. From now on, both newspapers appear under the umbrella of Weser-Kurier GmbH, which in 1980 changed its name to today's Bremer Tageszeitungen AG.
Since 1990
editIn September 2008, Bremer Tageszeitungen AG acquired 21.6 percent of the shares in the television station center.tv Bremen, which was launched on September 5, 2007. Broadcasting ceased on May 31, 2013. During this time, many city and regional television stations in Germany tried to introduce this form of media.
In 2015, the Weser-Kurier presented the work of its own correspondents and sourced content from the DuMont capital editorial team. In 2018 he moved to the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland. Further national content has been sourced from Tagesspiegel since 2019 and from Anja Maier from the Berlin journalism bureau "Die Korrespondenten" since 2021.[4]
In 2017 there was a dispute between the Hackmack family and the shareholder Christian Güssow. The supervisory board, which had equal representation, was unable to agree on the future of the newspaper. Güssow's suggestion was to close the in-house printing shop in Bremen-Woltmershausen in 2020 and print the "Weser-Kurier" including regional editions in Oldenburg. Güssow prevailed and Bremer Tageszeitungen AG acquired a 50 percent stake in WE Druck. Since then, the Nordwest-Zeitung (NWZ) and the Bremer Tageszeitung AG newspapers have been printed there.[5][6]
Also in 2017, the Weser-Kurier outsourced its reporting on Bundeslegist SV Werder Bremen to the specially created editorial department branded "Mein Werder". The online project was intended to compete the similar platform from the small Kreiszeitung from nearby Syke (Ippen Media). At a time a maximum of 13 editors were deployed for Werder reporting. The project failed. In 2021, the Weser Kurier bought a share of the sports editorial team of the much smaller Kreiszeitung the Deichstube GmbH. Since than Deichstube is reporting for Kreiszeitung as well as for Weser-Kurier about the football club.[7]
Editors-in-chief Weser Kurier
editEditors-in-chife of Weser-Kurier, Bremer Nachrichten und Verdener Nachrichten since 2008:
- Volker Weise, from 1. March 2008 to January 31rd, 2009
- Lars Haider, vom 1. Februar 2009 bis 30. Juni 2011
- Helge Matthiesen, vom 1. Juli 2011 bis 14. September 2011; kommissarisch
- Silke Hellwig, ab 15. September 2011
- Peter Bauer, vom 1. Januar 2014 bis 14. Januar 2015; kommissarisch
- Moritz Döbler, from Januyry 15th, 2015 to August 31rd, 2019
Bremer Tageszeitungen AG
editWesre Kurier Mediengruppe is owned by Bremer Tageszeitungen AG. This company is mainly owned by „Hackmack, Meyer KG", which represents the family of the founders Hackmack and Meyer. Since 2011 Weser Kurier makes annual losses in the millions, which are offset by Hackmack Meyer KG.[8]
Side businesses bike sharing
editBecause the Bremer Atgeszeitungs AG was no longer making enough money with its newspaper, the company was looking for new sources of income. In 2018 Weser Kurier started the Bike-Sharing-System "WK-Bike" in Bremen. The rental system was a collaboration with the national rental company Nextbike and with the support of Bremer Straßenbahn AG and Bremen State Economic Development agency.[9]
In 2021 the business expanded to near by Oldenburg. The bikes there were named "OLi".[10]
Around 500 unisex bikes were distributed throughout the city of Bremen, so that they were available at almost every major intersection and can be booked using the Nextbike app. However, the system did not catch on and since 2024 there have hardly been any bikes that are ready for use.[9]
Football media
editThe competitor Kreiszeitung from Syke initiated the media portal Deichstube, which exclusively reports on SV Werder Bremen. The Weser Kurier is now co-owner.
References
edit- ^ ""Weser-Kurier" schließt Druckerei – bis zu 130 Jobs fallen weg - buten un binnen". www.butenunbinnen.de. Archived from the original on 2019-12-26.
- ^ "Die unendliche Verleger-Fehde: Richter spricht Machtwort in festgefahrenem Streit der Weser-Kurier-Gesellschafter". MEEDIA. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ Dammann, Michael Lambek und Stefan (2020-09-10). "Wie der Weser-Kurier zur Zeitung für Bremen wurde". weser-kurier-de (in German). Retrieved 2024-10-31.
- ^ kress.de. "Ex-taz-Führungskraft: Anja Maier berichtet für den Weser-Kurier aus der Hauptstadt". kress (in German). Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ "Marode hauseigene Druckerei: Blockade im Aufsichtsrat des "Weser-Kurier" - HORIZONT". www.horizont.net (in German). Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ Reinhardt, von Martina (2018-10-30). "Streit über die Druckerei des Weser Kurier". Print.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ Martens, René (2021-02-20). "Kooperation von Zeitungen im Fußball: Grün-weiße Pressevielfalt". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
- ^ Wolschner, Klaus (2020-03-30). "Umsatzeinbußen beim Weser-Kurier: Verhandlungen über Kurzarbeit". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
- ^ a b Stengel, Eckhard (2024-05-23). "Bremer Leihradsystem "WK-Bike": "Weser-Kurier" fährt auf Verschleiß". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ Sonnenberg, Mathias (2021-10-29). "Bremer Fahrradleihsystem WK-Bike kommt nach Oldenburg". weser-kurier-de (in German). Retrieved 2024-10-30.